National Council of The Resistance - Formation and Meeting of Resistance Fighters

Formation and Meeting of Resistance Fighters

Charles de Gaulle, exiled in London and recognized by the UK as leader of a French government in exile, began seeking the formation of a committee to unify the resistance movements. On January 1, 1942, he delegated this task to Jean Moulin. Moulin achieved the feat on May 27, 1943 with the first meeting of the Conseil National de la Résistance in the apartment of René Corbin on the second floor of 48, Rue du Four, in Paris.

Aside from Moulin and his two assistants, Pierre Meunier and Robert Chambeiron, participants in the first meeting included representatives of the eight main French resistance movements, members of six of France's major political parties and the two large pre-war trade unions all attended the Rue du Four meeting.

Representatives of the eight major resistance movements:

• Pierre Villon (Front National)
• Roger Coquoin (Ceux de la Libération)
• Jacques Lecompte-Boinet (Ceux de la Résistance)
• Charles Laurent (Libération-Nord)
• Pascal Copeau (Libération-Sud)
• Jacques-Henri Simon (Organisation Civile et Militaire)
• Claude Bourdet (Combat)
• Eugène Claudius-Petit (Franc-Tireur)

Under Jean Moulin's earlier influence, Combat, Franc-Tireur and Libération-Sud had already agreed to regroup themselves in January 1943 to create the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance, with their joint military arms forming the Armée secrète (Secret Army).

Representatives of the two trade unions:

• Louis Saillant (Confédération générale du travail)
• Gaston Tessier (Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens)

Representatives of the six main political parties of the French Third Republic:

• André Mercier (French Communist Party)
• André Le Troquer (Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière)
• Marc Rucart (Radical-Socialists)
• Georges Bidault (Parti démocrate populaire)
• Joseph Laniel (l'Alliance Démocratique)
• Jacques Debu-Bridel (Fédération républicaine)